The Mad Baron of Mongolia: The Rise and Fall of Baron von Ungern-Sternberg, 1919-1930

The Mad Baron of Mongolia:

The Rise and Fall of Baron von Ungern-Sternberg, 1919-1930

A psychopathic Buddhist warrior-king who saw himself as the reincarnation of Genghis Khan, the former Tsarist general Baron von Ungern-Sternberg had a dream for Mongolia. With few resources aside from a small council of skilled advisors, the Bloody Baron attempted to reestablish the Mongol Empire and expand its reach across Asia -- and, for however briefly, he was successful. In this committee, delegates will represent the closest confidants of the Bloody Baron, ranging from the Baron’s staff physician, to a Mongolian puppet khan, to a respected fortune teller and shaman. They will be responsible for carrying out the siege of Ulaanbaatar, uniting warring Mongolian factions, and planning the Baron’s wedding to a Chinese princess -- just to name a few. Like the figure on which it is based, this committee will be unorthodox in more ways than one, but the executives are confident that the unique setting will provide delegates a weekend to remember.

Shynru looi

Chair

Shyn Ru is a second year Economics major in the college hailing from Malaysia. During ChoMUN XX, she served as an assistant chair in The Life and Times of Lee Kuan Yew. On campus, she is involved in Smart Women Securities and tutors for the Maroon Tutors. In her free time, she can be found exploring the different neighbourhoods of Chicago for food, baking, watching more food related videos, and frequenting the gym in an attempt to feel less guilty. She also seems to be watching way too many TV shows, and that obsession probably worsened after working on Netflix’s set of Marco Polo. She is incredibly excited to work with her CDs for this year’s conference, as they were on the same committee last year and had an amazing experience working together. Feel free to reach out to her if you have any questions at shynru@uchicago.edu.

aakaash rao

Crisis Director

Aakaash Rao is a third year majoring in Math and Economics. His interests include economic history, computational economics, and poverty and development. He chaired Singapore 1965-2015 at ChoMUN last year; he is also involved in MUNUC, UChicago’s high school conference, for which he will be crisis directed the Cabinet of India last year and will be crisis directing the Executive Council of Hong Kong this year. Outside of Model UN, Aakaash enjoys composing music for video games, playing soccer, and complaining about the campus dining halls. Aakaash is very excited to run this committee with two of his former ACs, especially given the setting — the executives have been asked multiple times whether they made the whole scenario up specifically as a setting for a crisis committee. (They didn’t.)

Feel free to reach out at aakaash@uchicago.edu with any other questions about the committee or conference in general.

adriana rakshana

Crisis Director

Adriana is a second year Economics and Public Policy major from India, but as she has lived all her life in Kuwait, she likes to think that she is an honorary Kuwaiti. This is her third year staffing ChoMUN and first time as a committee executive. She served as an assistant chair for ‘The Life and Times of Lee Kuan Yew’ during ChoMUN XX and ‘The Walt Disney Company’ during ChoMUN XIX. Apart from ChoMUN, Adriana is involved in Amnesty International’s UChicago Chapter, Smart Women Securities and the Undergraduate Economics Research Organization, Oeconomica. When she is not in class, hanging out with her few friends or sleeping, she can be found searching for the spiciest food in Chicago or dousing her food in Sriracha sauce in order to remedy the lack of spice in most food in this country. She is very excited to be a co-CD for a fascinating committee about such an eccentric individual, and can’t wait to see what interesting things delegates get up to. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to her at iarakshana@uchicago.edu.